Zamorah - The Mountain city in Avalonia
The city of Zamorah is located on top of a high mountain. It's located in the north of Avalonia at the border to Mitgardia by the river. The city is predominantly populated by humans, elves, dwarves and fauns. For many hundreds of years, The Aurum Order has ruled Zamorah with an ancient family of men named af Drachen as their leaders. Surrounding the mountain are larger land areas belonging to the city. For the most part, the lands are covered with farms, livestock farmers and smaller villages. All of it suppling the city with food. Zamorah is now looking for new trading partners to promote their exclusive products of Aurumium as well as dragon eggs and dragons. Location Zamorah is located near the boarder to Mitgardia where there is a fork in the river XXXX. Here is the location: T﻿he history of Zamorah The beginning The legend says, that an older druid and his wife found a solitary mountain peak when the druid searched for a place of total privacy to immerse himself in the secrets of the druids. At the top of the mountain he settled and called the place Zamorah, after his wif﻿e.﻿﻿ The druid rushed back up the mountain, picked up a sledgehammer and chisel and climbed back down to the cave. After many days of hacking, and many tools broken, he finally loosened a piece of metal from the wall. He rushed back up and examined the metal. It was breathtakingly beautiful with a color like gold, but was much harder. He tried to work the metal for days but was unable to make even the slightest mark on it, or affect it in any way. Despite his – in his own opinion – extensive knowledge of alchemy, he failed to process it. He wrote letters to three of his most trustworthy friends and sent it with his owl – the elf druid called Sintrimi in The Enchanted Forest, the dwarf metallurgist named Aldur in the Mitgardia's mines and the human mage named Primus from southern Avalonia. They heard the call and came to his aid on the mountain peak. After several months of examining and testing the metal, they found that an extreme heat was required to affect the metal. A heat that could only be induced by dragon breath. The druid went out and searched for dragons in the Nocturnus mountain range. When he finally found one, he used his zoolinguistic skills to communicate with the dragon. The dragon agreed to help – if they could pay with a big fat ox for dinner. With the help of the dragon the druids were able to get the metal hot enough to process it like regular steel. After the metal had cooled though, they realized it as hard as steel and looked like precious gold. They named the new found metal Aurumium. The druid and his friends quickly understood that this new metal was very valuable and that they had to keep it a secret. They formed a covenant and agreed to keep their knowledge a secret from the outside world, not sharing their knowledge until the last piece of the metal was mined. Thus, the Aurum Order was formed. The druid and his heirs would stand as rulers over Zamorah along with the other members of The Aurum Order, consisting of descendants of the elf, the dwarf and the human mage. In order to continue melting and working the metal, a long-term collaboration between druids and dragons began in Zamorah. The Aurum order vowing to give the dragons protection and food in exchange for heating the ovens. So more and more dragons settled in caves in the mountain and made it their home for generations to come. Centuries passed as Zamorah and its population grew into a large town on the mountain top, while the mountain beneath it was slowly eroding when mining for the precious metal continued. To protect themselves from the outside world, mages were given the task of creating and holding a large protective magic dome around the entire mountain. The dome protected the mountain and the city from the eyes of Historicas inhabitants. Only those who had been invited by The Aurum Order could see the mountain and its town. For all others, it was completely invisible. The spell also ensured that those who had been invited, could not tell anyone else that Zamorah existed. Even under torture, one could not get information about its whereabouts. Some had heard stories about an old hidden city, but since its location and name was unknown, it was said to be a myth. From the Aurumium, the inhabitants of Zamorah made exclusive weapons, armor and other items which they then sold to a few of the richest people in Historica. When mining Aurumium, they also found other metals and gems that allowed them to trade with others in Historica. Revenues made Zamorah and The Aurum Order very rich. The long cooperation with the dragons resulted in a good connection between the druids and the dragons. Over time, a unique language developed. Dragon riders were trained and special dragons were bred for the riders as transportation and to protect the lands. The riders and dragons created a very strong bond with each other. Over time, the other residents of Zamorah and the dragons also learned to have simple communication. Dragon eggs and specially bred dragons were also sold to some of the richest in Historica. However, they are very unusual. In order to protect themselves against intruders the walls of Zamorah were fortified and strengthened with Aurumium. As a resultat of this, the whole city is shining on top of the mountain. Zamorah has also got heavily armed knights and dragon riders to protect the city if anyone were to accidently stumble across it. In order to prevent such a thing occurring, access to the city was very limited. The only way to get up to the city is by water to reach the port inside the hollow mountain. From there, a lift can take invited guests from the port to the top. These lifts can be pulled at risk of attacks or intrusion. Aside from the lifts, the only way to get to the city is by air. Something that few outside of Zamorah are able to venture.﻿﻿ ﻿﻿ Present day After decades of mining Aurumium, the entire mountain has been carved out and the Aurumium deposits in the mountain is nearly depleted.﻿﻿ When the aging ruler Druid Zull of Drachen lay on his death bed, his only son – and heir to the throne – suffered a terrible accident. A mining tunnel collapsed over him and his two companions during a routine inspection in the mines. When their bodies were found, they were so badly injured that they could not be properly identified. Only one survived the accident and could tell what happened. Just before Zull of Drachen passed away he decided that the ruling of Zamorah would be handed over to The Aurum Order, as no heir was present. Shortly thereafter, the Aurum Order decided to release the ancient secret of Zamorah. Because the Aurumium deposits were nearing depletion, the city needed find ways to support its inhabitants and seek up new markets for the remaining weapons, armor and other merchandise of the processed Aurumium, as well as dragons and dragon eggs. The time to make themselves known was now, given that the war in the East had ended and Queen Ylspeth had just opened up for new trading opportunities in Varlyrio. So in order to increase trade, Zamorah has now finally lowered its protective dome so that it can be seen and known to all.﻿﻿ Brand of trade ﻿﻿ Buildings and sites (MOCs) ﻿﻿﻿﻿ Category:Guilds of Historica Category:Avalonia